Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Murtabak Daging/Meat Curry Parcels

This month of August is the Holy Month of Ramadan. This is the time where the Muslim will fast from sunrise till sunset. The fasting is not only forgoing food and drink but also ‘fasting’ of the mind from unhealthy thoughts. This will be the month too where all the Ramadan Bazaars comes to life once a year. Ramadan Bazaars can be found wherever there are substantial population and residents in an area and they are usually located in available spaces in the middle of towns, residential estates and villages. They sell varieties of food and drinks for the breaking of fast, it is a quite a phenomenon and an attraction. The shoppers in the bazaars aren't all Muslim, though; we the non-Muslim and foreign tourists also benefit from the bazaars' mouth-watering traditional and non-traditional food and dishes found in Malaysia.

I used to work at SS14, PJ and the Ramadan Bazaar was just in front of my office. My colleagues and I will visit the Bazaar at least 4-5 times a week to buy all our favorite food. One of them will be this Murtabak Daging where we eat it with pickle onions and curry sauce. Murtabak is an Indian Muslim wrap. It's a large, thin, roti-style shell stuffed with various meat fillings, along with eggs and onions and then pan-fried. Since we don’t have Ramadan Bazaar here in the US to buy this Murtabak Daging, I have to make do with my simple homemade version using spring roll wrappers. It actually turns out pretty good.

1. In a small bowl, combined curry powder, chili powder, cumin and coriander powder. Add in about 2 tbsp of water and make it into a paste. Set it aside.
2. Heat up about 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan. Add in the chopped onion and sauté until soft and translucent. Add in the ground meat. Break up the meat and cook for 2-3 minutes.
3. Add in the curry paste; continue to stir fry until fragrant. Lastly add in the potato and about 1 cup (or a bit more) of water and seasonings. Stir well, cover and let it simmer until the potato is soft and most of the sauce evaporates.
4. Set it aside to cool down. Once it is cool, Beat in the eggs and mix well.
5. Set the spring roll wrapper on a flat surface; add in about 4-5 tbsp of filling to the center of the wrapper. Fold in all the four edges of the wrapper until it covers the filling completely. Do the same to the rest of the wrappers.
6. Heat up the non-stick pan with a bit of oil; pan fried the parcels until golden brown on both sides. Serve warm with your favorite curry sauce of pickle onions.

Gertrude...I always look forward to Ramadhan month..the ramadhan markets will be everywhere and food of all kinds are sold there. Love their murtadbak and ikan ,ayam panggang with the bamboo skewer. The place is filled with mmmmmm...I am so wicked...making you drool :p haha but seriously , I don't have to cook much this month, I just buy back the ayam panggang for WB and ikan panggang for myself and they sell satays too and guess what they were cheap 40 sen per stick..beef and chicken :) I love their wide varieties of ulam and kerabu...yummy

Your murtadbak looks yummy. I didnt know that we can use spring roll wrapper for making murtadbak...thanks for the idea :)

Do try to come back when the durians season and fasting month coincides - Jun onwards so that you get to eat all :)

Gert,I've seen many Malay bloggers blog about this instant murtabak using spring rolls skin but I am hesitant to do so.Now that you have made it,can you tell me taste sama tak?Isn't the skin too thin and too crunchy?I so rindu to makan murtabak and every time I balik malaysia,I'll lupa to makan..haiyah!!

How wonderful that you get to make your own murtabak. Carlos should loves it too! The spices used sounds quite similar to taco speices. So, I'm sure it's really tasty and flavourful.Thanks for sharing & enjoy your day.Kristy

Elin, I miss the Ramadhan market a lot. I love their ayam percik and also the ikan terubuk panggang too. Yes it is easy to use the spring roll wrappers rather than trying to make your own roti canai. Yea I have to plan to go home during durian season one year :)

Shereen, I like using spring roll wrappers as they are crispy. I like it a lot. But you can always use the frozen paratha, roll it out thinner and make your murtabak with it.

Kristy, he did tried a piece. He need time to get use to food like this :)

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About Me

I was born and raised in Malaysia and now live in Northern California, USA with my wonderful husband Carlos. I love to bake and cook. It is very relaxing and I find my creativity flowing in the kitchen. I creates this blog to record all my cooking and baking adventures and also share my tested recipes with you.
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